The fate of gay and lesbian equality rests in a pair of challenges being heard by the Supreme Court in the coming months. All eyes will be on the nine justices — and history.

Image by Beck Diefenbach / Reuters

WASHINGTON — If everything goes right for advocates of marriage equality, gay and lesbian couples everywhere could be celebrating their right to marry by the Fourth of July in 2013.

Eight years after opponents of same-sex couples' marriage rights claimed state amendments banning such marriages helped keep President George W. Bush in the White House, marriage equality's supporters now find themselves as close as they've ever come to their goal.

"We are now literally within months of getting a final resolution of this case that began three-and-a-half years ago," said David Boies, one of the lawyers behind the challenge to California's Proposition 8 that is now before the Supreme Court.

"We are all encouraged and excited about the prospect that we will finally get a decision on the merits with respect to marriage equality," Boies, who joined former Bush administration Solicitor General Theodore Olson in bringing the suit on behalf of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, said Friday.

The stakes have never been higher for either side of the fight over marriage equality. By June, the Supreme Court could take bold action to strike down state constitutional provisions and laws prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying, reminiscent of its 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision ending mixed-race marriage bans. The court also could declare that the additional scrutiny now applied to laws based on race, religion or sex also must be used for those regarding sexual orientation.

The court also could do less than that, limiting its ruling to the Defense of Marriage Act's federally defined "marriage" or California’s Proposition 8, allowing the patchwork of state-level laws governing the ability of couples to marry based on their sexual orientation to continue.

The high court even could declare that the Constitution grants no such right to gays and lesbians, essentially ending the chances of national answer on the marriage equality question for the foreseeable future.

Civil rights leaders, though, are opting instead to focus on the possibility, echoed throughout America’s history, that the nation could be on a path toward greater equality.

"Today’s announcement gives hope that we will see a landmark Supreme Court ruling for marriage this term," Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said Friday. "As the Court has ruled 14 times in the past, marriage is a fundamental right and I believe they will side with liberty, freedom and equality, moving us toward a more perfect union as they have done in the past."

Griffin, now running the nation's largest LGBT political group, knows the stakes of Friday's news: He was the person who recruited Olson and Boies to challenge Proposition 8 in federal court.

Unquestionably, the country is undergoing a dramatic change in the way it views gay rights in an unbelievably short time.

Several lower courts have recognized equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. State legislatures have passed marriage equality bills from Washington and Maryland — where same-sex couples will soon wed — to New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie ultimately vetoed the bill. Voters in four states sided with marriage equality supporters in related measures this past month.

The people — from judges to lawmakers to voters — are starting to sort out an issue that less than 20 years ago appeared to be on a much slower path toward any resolution.

Image by Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

When President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law in September 1996 — though "strenuously opposed" to "discrimination of any kind" — he stated, "I have long opposed governmental recognition of same-gender marriages and this legislation is consistent with that position." His position, far from conservative, was easily the mainstream position. Only 14 Senate Democrats opposed the bill, and nowhere in the country would even recognize same-sex couples’ right to marry for another seven years.

When President Obama declared his views on marriage had "evolved" in May of this year, however, he said, "I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." Far from being a liberal position, polls suggest that his view was, again, the mainstream position. Of course, Clinton already had since "evolved" to oppose DOMA and support marriage equality. Even Bob Barr, the former House Republican who sponsored DOMA in 1996, has become a supporter of marriage equality.

The Supreme Court, while not subject to voters’ whims, still exists within the larger political environment of the nation. Friday’s announcement that the justices will be considering whether both DOMA and California’s Proposition 8 are constitutional means the high court will find itself squarely in the middle of LGBT advocates' path to equality. And that means the nine justices will choose either to stand in the way of recent successes or to give that progress a push forward.

"I think that it is going to be so important for the United States Supreme Court to address the merits here," Olson said Friday.

For Olson, the path to being a key advocate for marriage equality has, like the nation's attitudes, been circuitous: the man who served as President George W. Bush’s top Supreme Court lawyer is now the lead lawyer for the two same-sex couples suing to ask the court to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

Far from part of a broader political realignment, Olson has remained true to his conservative roots. He helped Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, a staunch opponent of marriage equality, prepare for the vice presidential debate this past fall, even as he has aggressively put himself out as a leading national supporter of marriage equality.

"It will be an education for the American people," Olson said of the coming arguments over the California amendment. "We are very confident the outcome of this case will be to support the rights of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters."

Likewise, attorneys working on the Defense of Marriage Act case were upbeat about their prospects — and aware of the implications.

The DOMA challenge that the Supreme Court will be hearing is a story that spans the gay rights movement in America. It is the story of a couple — Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer — who met, dated and were engaged to one another in the years before the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn.

After 40 years, the two were finally married in 2007. When Spyer died two years later, though, Windsor had to pay a $350,000 estate tax bill that she would not have owed if either had been a man.

Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney arguing along with the American Civil Liberties Union on Windsor’s behalf, said Friday night, "Edie is absolutely thrilled that it is her case that will be before the United States Supreme Court. And we are as well. Edie's life story, both before and after her life with her late spouse Thea Spyer, compellingly reflects both how dramatically things have changed for gay people in our country and how discriminatory and unconstitutional DOMA really is."

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The ad, featuring a photo from the 9/11 attacks, goes up in 50 New York City subway stations, starting December 17th.

The poster was created by Pamela Geller, Executive Director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative.

Geller's previous subway posters, below, were all defaced (here's some examples) the first day they went up, back in September.

In response, The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) will be adding the disclaimer seen on the above pre-press poster.

In anticipation of another round of defacements, Geller told the New York Observer that she printed twice as many ads this time. She added: "I refuse to abridge my free speech so as to appease savages."

Read more of Geller's comments to the Observer here.

Via: animalnewyork.com

The news comes after being reelected to a fourth term as President.

Image by Miraflores Press Office, Marcelo Garcia / AP

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Saturday night that "after a thorough medical examination" he has decided to undergo surgery "in the coming days." After receiving tests in Havana, Chavez said that doctors noted the presence of malignant cells in the same area he had received cancer treatment earlier. That's according to the Venezuelan state agency, AVN.

When he made the announcement, Chavez was sitting with members of his Cabinet, which included Vice President Nicolas Maduro and Congress head Diosdado Cabello

Chavez has had three cancer surgeries in Cuba since his diagnosis in July 2011, but declared himself cancer-free back in May.

The Venezuelan President was expected to travel on Sunday. He was recently elected to a fourth term as President.

The former President candidate attended the fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao title fight in Las Vegas Saturday night. “Hello Manny. I ran for president. I lost.”

Image by AP / AP

Image by AP / AP

Image by Getty / Getty Images

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A rush to make up after a bitter election. “A tactical shift,” says an executive.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Business Roundtable in Washington December 5, 2012.

Image by Larry Downing / Reuters

WASHINGTON —American big business leaders, from Wall Street to boardrooms around the country, backed Mitt Romney to the hilt in 2012, but they and President Barack Obama have rushed into one anothers’ arms in the wake of his re-election.

Business leaders are resigned to tax hikes and want a quick and clean resolution to the “fiscal cliff.” Obama is more than willing to accept their capitulation, and wants to avoid the substantial damage the business lobby proved it could do to his agenda during his first term, a time of tense relationships between the White House and business. This is a new alliance, and if an alliance of convenience, it’s one with the capacity to change the politics of Washington.

“I am passionately rooting for your success,” Obama said in remarks Wednesday to the Business Roundtable in Washington before a closed-press question-and-answer session, replacing October’s presidential rhetoric of demanding that the wealthy pay their “fair share” with new emphasis on the role of business in the economy.

“If the companies in this room are doing well, then small businesses and medium-sized businesses up and down the chain are doing well," he said to the group that represents the biggest American businesses.

Outlining the new efforts, White House officials said Obama has had three meetings with groups of CEOs, as well as many more informal meetings and calls with business leaders, in addition to speaking at the Business Roundtable — a group consisting of the leaders of some of the nation's largest corporations. He’s also hosted small business owners at the White House.

And in an interview Tuesday with Bloomberg — and outlet selected by the White House for its business viewership — Obama was asked by Julianna Goldman if he would bring a business executive onto his economic team.

“Not only is it something I'm considering, I'd love to do it,” Obama said.

(The administration also put Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on CNBC this week to discuss fiscal cliff negotiations.)

“I think they would like the voice of business to be helpful in this and probably particularly be willing to say that we recognize revenue increases and tax increases are a part of that. I think there was a bit of an ask on that,” Arne Sorenson, the President and CEO of Marriott, told reporters following a meeting with Obama after Thanksgiving.

And even Romney supporters like Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and FedEx CEO Fred Smith are finding their way into the White House’s good graces by publically expressing openness to higher rates.

“It is capital investment and equipment and software that’s the solution to our economic problems, not the marginal tax rates of individuals,” Smith said on CNN this week, in a talking point that earned top billing on a White House fact-sheet for undercutting congressional Republican arguments.

A White House spokesman singled out the help statements like those from Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke, at pressuring Hill Republicans to come to the table.

The outreach to business is a marked shift from much of Obama’s first term, when his relationship with the business community frayed over Obamacare and Dodd-Frank.

Even Obama’s jobs council — which he created in 2011 from his Economic Recovery Advisory Board and includes a host of top donors — met just once in 2012, and three times in its inaugural year, much to the consternation of Republicans.

“They’re martialling the business community to talk about why we shouldn’t go over the cliff, which reflects the positive role the business community can play in Washington,” said one financial industry executive of the current efforts.

“It’s certainly a tactical shift, and it remains to be seen if it will morph into something more substantial and enduring,” the executive said.

White House officials say the reengagement isn’t necessarily the goal — it’s a means to a fiscal cliff solution — but a close relationship with business is something they’ve historically had difficulty achieving.

Obama martialed a small cadre of business leaders to help push through the stimulus, but the focus on financial sector regulation and health care reform erased the gains. Bill Daley was brought in as White House Chief of Staff in 2010 to mend the administration’s rocky relationship with the business world, an effort that never produced much. And during the campaign, much of the business community — even many supportive of Obama in 2008 — was solidly in Mitt Romney’s camp, funneling him hundreds of millions in donations.

And another close Obama aide has born some of the blame for the Administration’s rocky relationship with the business community: Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett’s defenders always argued that Obama’s policies, not Jarrett’s relationships, were at the core of the tension; and now several people inside the Administration and the business community credit the old hand for the new administration embrace of business.

“It’s all about the follow-up,” said one Romney-supporting executive who participated in the BRT meeting. “We all walked in there having had contact with Valerie, Geithner, or [Director of the National Economic Council Gene] Sperling, and everyone I’ve spoken to has heard from them since.”

Robert Wolf, a friend, bundler, and adviser to Obama and the former Chairman of UBS Americas, said the relationship between the business community and the White House is more robust now than at any point in the Obama presidency.

“The president wants the private sector to be involved, and they want a seat at the table,” Wolf said, saying businesses took away from last summer’s debt ceiling fight that they need to play a role in negotiations.

But also, undoubtedly the business community is trying to find away back into the administration’s good graces after a bitter election year.

“We have to find a way to work together with the White House if we want to be involved in this process,” said the BRT-participant.

Obama's decision to relax a self-imposed ban on accepting corporate cash for his second inauguration offers the business community a risk-free opportunity to get back in the president's good graces.

Wolf and White House officials described a persistent outreach effort to the business community — in which officials hold calls before and after meetings with Obama.

“It’s one thing to have a meeting and there is no action and there is no engagement after the meeting,” Wolf said. “Now we’re trying to keep everyone in touch to get this done — and hopefully work on the next issue together.”

The question of course is whether the White House and the various business constituencies — the best organized of which are Wall Street and the large employers represented by the Chamber of Commerce — will see their alliance of convenience survive the current budget talks.

Wolf said he is optimistic.

“They’re not just talking fiscal cliff, they are talking about ways to make the us more competitive going into 2013 — things like immigration, education, corporate tax reform, and tax policy that the president is making a priority,” said Wolf. “They actually align very well with what the private sector wants to participate it.”

Early Sunday, a U.S. special operator died during a successful mission to rescue an American doctor being held by the Taliban.

A ground operation by U.S. troops in September.

Image by Getty / Getty Images

President Obama announced in a statement Sunday that one U.S. Special Forces team member had died in a successful mission that rescued an American doctor from the Taliban early Sunday.

The American, identified as Colorado-based nonprofit doctor Dilip Joseph was held by the Taliban for nearly five days. He was rescued along with two of his colleagues who were Afghan doctors and their Afghan driver. They were kidnapped Wednesday by Taliban gunman after they had visited a rural medical clinic outside of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

President Obama's statement:

"Yesterday, our special operators in Afghanistan rescued an American citizen in a mission that was characteristic of the extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism that our troops show every day. Tragically, we lost one of our special operators in this effort. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, just as we must always honor our troops and military families. He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free."

Joseph is expected to return to America in a few days.

A new group of communications-obsessed operatives for the Twitter age.

[ INSERT 25 ]WASHINGTON — With the 2012 election over, the capital is in the throes of another of its endless generational shifts, and as the operatives behind the campaigns begin to move on, a new crop of largely young, tech savvy operatives are poised to take their place.

This next generation of communicators and agenda setters was schooled in political fights of the 2000s, and they've now fully stepped out of the shadow of their bosses on Capitol Hill, the White House and GOP presidential campaign operations.

This new class still doesn’t reflect the growing demographic changes that are shaping the country: they’re still mostly white and mostly male, though women and minorities are beginning to fill out the ranks of Washington’s elite operators.

Ranging in age from their late 20s to early 40s, this next generation have come into their own during the contentious Bush and Obama eras that have been defined by economic hardship, war and bruising, near constant political battles.

They’re all almost all message obsessed — part of a growing shift of power away from policy-focused staff and managers to media operators that began during the Clinton era.

And they’re more plugged into new technologies than ever before, obsessed with how they and their bosses communicate, and are communicated about, on — most of all — Twitter, but they also have more than a passing familiarity with everything from Facebook to Reddit, and Pinterest is on their to-do lists. (And if they weren't talking to BuzzFeed before they made this list, and most were, we're expecting their gchats today.)

Over the next two years, this new generation will take an increasing role not only in politics, but in the basic functions of governing.

Here are 23 members of the new communerati to watch:


[ INSERT 1 ]TODD HARRIS


Todd Harris, 41, has a résumé that reads like a who’s-who list of the Republican Party, with Sen. John McCain, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush among his former bosses. 

But it’s his current gig, as a senior adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio that has propelled both Harris — and Rubio with him — into the upper echelon of national Republican politics. 

Alex Conant, who worked as Tim Pawlenty’s press secretary on the campaign trail before joining Rubio’s office roughly one year ago calls Harris “amongst the most respected operatives I’ve ever worked with.”

“He’s very good at taking the long view and not getting sucked into any one media storm of the moment,” Conant said. 

Rubio’s office has faced its share of media storms, even during the past year: The questions about his parent’s immigration story; the potential that Rubio might be picked as Mitt Romney’s running mate; this week, an interview with GQ Magazine in which Rubio said he doesn’t know how old the earth is. 

But to those stories and others, Conant said, Harris brought “a level head.”


[ INSERT 2 ]

GERRIT LANSING

In a time when digital communications have become more important than ever for political campaigns, Gerrit Lansing is in charge of the digital operations for the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. 

Lansing, 29, bolstered his reputation as a political communicator early on with a job blogging for the right-wing Heritage Foundation. After roughly a year and a half, Lansing moved to the Hill to work as the new media director for Rep. Peter Roskam, of Illinois. He then jumped to Rep. Paul Ryan's staff, working as his press secretary on the House Budget Committee. 

Since then, Lansing has adapted his blogging beginnings at Heritage to his work at the NRCC — and in his own Twitter account. 

His personal Twitter mixes the professional — tweets directed at reporters, or supporting Republican lawmakers and candidates — with Lansing’s own interests — photos from a Bruce Springsteen concert, for example, or, more recently, a Guns N Roses show.


[ INSERT 3 ]

PAUL LINDSAY


Paul Lindsay, the communications director at the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, has a sense of humor. 

“Undecided Voter. DC Native. No apologies. I don't follow politics, and am not much of a reader,” his Twitter bio reads. 

But Lindsay, 31, takes his job seriously as the head of messaging at the organization responsible for widening Republicans’ majority in the House of Representatives.

It’s a position he’s held since 2008; before that, he directed communications for John McCain’s presidential campaign in Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

“Paul is relentless: He is always on message, aggressive and creative,” said Jesse Ferguson, Lindsay’s counterpart at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “He drove us crazy, which is probably an indicator that he’s doing a good job.”

“His aggressiveness and speed make him one of the better competitors in this town.” Ferguson added, pausing. “To be clear, he is aggressive and fast — still wrong! But he’s done as good a job as anyone I’ve seen at making their case.” 




[ INSERT 4 ]BRAD DAYSPRING
Dayspring, 35, is the very definition of the classic combative, acerbic flak. The New Jersey native cut his teeth in the Bush White House before jumping to Capitol Hill where his acid tongue quickly made him one of the most influential operators under the dome.


Dayspring first came to Capitol Hill with a “Jersey hockey-player mentality,” according to Michael Steel, Speaker John Boehner’s press secretary, who has known Dayspring since both were newly minted press secretaries for members of Congress.

“He’s always aggressive and playing to where the puck is going to be rather than where it is,” Steel said. 

That might have contributed to Dayspring’s departure from Cantor’s office earlier this year, which was a well-documented bit of Washington drama involving a near-physical altercation between Cantor staffers, followed by Dayspring’s resignation. 

But Dayspring’s reputation for hand-to-hand combat with the press belies the reality that he is also able to maintain strong personal and professional ties with his colleagues and reporters.


Now off the Hill, Dayspring is helping direct YG Action Network and Fund — outside groups affiliated with Cantor that is playing an increasingly larger role in the development and support of the next generation of conservative politicians.

“I think he is one of the most honest and genuine people in D.C., and in this town that’s hard to come by,” said Erica Elliott, who has known Dayspring since they shared an office on the Hill. “You always know where you stand with Brad.”



[ INSERT 5 ]
MICHAEL STEEL


Even before he was tapped to run press operations for vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan on the campaign trail, Michael Steel was a fixture on Capitol Hill as press secretary to Speaker John Boehner — a role Steel will reprise post-election. 

“He has a depth and breadth of institutional knowledge about this place that I respect and admire,” said Erica Elliott, the spokesperson for House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy.

Part of that respect for the institution stems from the time Steel has spent working in Congress: He started his first job on the Hill in 2003, as a press secretary for Rep. John Shadegg, an Arizona Republican.

Brad Dayspring met Steel when they were both brand-new press secretaries on the Hill. Kevin Madden, then in Tom Delay’s office and who worked most recently on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, recognized potential in the young men and took both “under his wing,” Dayspring said.

Today, Steel “gets a little testy when stories are bad about his boss — but that’s a good thing,” Dayspring laughed. “I’m the same way.”


[ INSERT 6 ]

ERICA ELLIOTT
Erica Elliott arrived on Capitol Hill in 2008 — and now, just four years later, she has climbed the ranks to become the highest-ranking female Republican communicator. 

As the communications director for House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Elliott has promoted her boss; along the way, she has earned the respect of her colleagues. 

“She’s a combination of friendly, well-informed and tough that is extremely effective,” said Michael Steel, press secretary for Speaker John Boehner. And, he added, “She has an extremely amusing Twitter feed.”

And like her most successful peers, Elliott keeps her channels of communication open with reporters.

Brad Dayspring, who shared an “office cubby hole” with Elliott on the Hill, says many young flacks have a “dislike for the press corps that they’re supposed to manage and relate to. Erica doesn’t have that.”

“Unlike a lot of younger communicators who build a wall, she builds relationships.” 




[ INSERT 7 ]JOSH HOLMES


In Washington, Vice President Joe Biden has been called “the McConnell whisperer” for his rapport with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — but few people understand the Senate’s top Republican like Josh Holmes, 33, McConnell’s right-hand man.

“He is one of the nicest, funniest guys that I’ve worked with on Capitol Hill, and simultaneously does one of the biggest and most important jobs and has won and earned universal praise for how he’s done it,” said Michael Steel, press secretary for Speaker John Boehner. 

Steel worked with Holmes closely during the protracted fight on the Hill about the Affordable Care Act — which, with Democrats in control of both chambers, Republicans ultimately lost. 

Nevertheless, Steel recalled, Holmes spearheaded an “incredibly effective communications effort against the law.”

“It’s one of the reasons that it emerged with people knowing as much as they did about some of the crooked deals that were involved in getting it passed,” Steel said. “It’s a testament to work that he did.”




[ INSERT 8 ]BRIAN FALLON

Colleagues describe Brian Fallon, the chief spokesman for Sen. Chuck Schumer, as a savvy political communicator who puts in the hours to truly understand the policy issues he crafts messages about.
Those qualities have earned Fallon the trust of his boss, who “treats Brian like some cross between a son and a consigliare,” said Adam Jentleson, the communications director for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.Fallon has worked for Schumer since 2007, and, in that time, has established a communications style as “a hybrid new-school, old-school kind of guy.”“He notices everything that’s happening on Twitter, but he also reads the hard copies of all the major dailies cover-to-cover, and I think really enjoys the old-school approach too,” Jentleson said.Fallon has deftly avoided such press coverage himself — such as the New York Times piece that documented Schumer’s prolific matchmaking among his staff. Fallon and his wife, Katie, are among that broad group of married couples who owe their unions, at least in part, to their boss, but Fallon did not appear in the story.


[ INSERT 9 ]MATT CANTER


The most recent election cycle saw Democrats trounce the Republican Party in competitive Senate races nationwide — and Matt Canter worked behind the scenes for two years to help make that happen. 

Canter, the head of communications for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, spearheaded the messaging that helped Democrats win over voters and seats in the Senate.

He brought with him to the job a lengthy history of work in politics: Most recently, as communications director to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York. 

“Matt is a talented operative who has a bright future in Democratic party,” said Brian Walsh, who holds Canter’s equivalent position at the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, “and while he has made a few of my days tougher this cycle, I have a lot of respect for him.”

During the election cycle, Canter and Walsh took to Twitter for a few spirited exchanges about candidates.

“He’s a tough adversary,” Walsh added.




[ INSERT 10 ]RODELL MOLLINEAU


As Super PACs became an inevitable, prominent feature of the election landscape this year in the wake of the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, some Democrats were initially hesitant to enter the fundraising fray. 

Not so for Rodell Mollineau, who left Capitol Hill in April of last year to run American Bridge 21st Century, a prominent Democratic Super PAC. 

That move placed Mollineau firmly among a group of Democrats “that is changing the way that campaigns are run,” said Jim Manley, who worked in the Senate for 21 years, most recently for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 

Before he jumped to American Bridge, Mollineau worked as Reid’s staff director. 

That position had been years in the making: Mollineau got his start on the Hill in 2000 as the deputy press secretary for then-Sen. Tom Daschle; by 2007, he was heading up communications for Reid. 

His approach to his work on the Hill was aggressive, even by D.C. standards. 

“Far too many Democrats felt the need to play patty cake while Republicans were lobbing the bombs at us,” Manley said. “He’s not one to share that view.” 

More recently, Mollineau has taken this approach to the political-fundraising sphere via American Bridge, which served as a powerful source of support for Democratic candidates and causes during the election. 





[ INSERT 11 ]ADAM JENTLESON


As Congressional leaders grapple with how the government might avert the looming fiscal cliff, Adam Jentleson will be at the forefront of crafting Senate Democrats’ message.

“He combines the fast pace and level of aggression of a campaign operation with the deep policy grasp you need when you’re working on the official side, especially when you’re dealing with complex issues like the fiscal cliff,” Fallon noted. 

Indeed, Jentleson got his start in politics working on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign; and, in 2007, Jentleson returned to the trail as a speechwriter for John Edwards’ presidential bid. 

After years of work with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank in Washington, Jentleson moved to Capitol Hill in April 2010 to work for Reid. 

Since then, he has established himself as a strong voice for the leader of the Senate and his party — even on social media. 

“On Twitter, I think he’s been a reliable, active voice for our side,” Fallon said. “The social media space was a place where, even a year ago, we were underrepresented. He recognized that and has tried to fill that void a little bit.” 

And, as if Jentleson’s high-powered job wasn’t time-consuming enough: 

“He just had a baby,” said Fallon, referring to Jentleson’s new son, Daniel. “We all admire the job he’s doing now in being a new father right as fiscal cliff negotiations are heating up.” 




[ INSERT 13 ]JESSE FERGUSON


On Twitter, Jesse Ferguson’s avatar is a ham sandwich — an indication as much of Ferguson’s sense of humor as his camera-shy disposition. “Search for me on Google Images,” he dared us as we were preparing this profile. “You won’t find one photo!”

But in the hard-scrabble arena of congressional elections, Ferguson, the head of communications for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, isn’t shy to call out Republican candidates. 

What makes him unique is that he usually does so with a smile. 

“All flacks tend to be relentless and passionate, but Jesse has set himself apart by using his wit and a great sense of humor to augment those characteristics,” Paul Lindsay, Ferguson’s foil at the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, wrote in an email. “He kept it interesting for both of us over the past few years, and I'm grateful for it.”

After the election, Ferguson tweeted at Lindsay: “#FF to @Paul_Lindsay. Good opponent and a good cycle. You should read what he tweets (just don't start believing all of it).”

“We're like Ron & Tip,” Lindsay responded. “Putting our partisan differences aside on Twitter.”

Outside of Twitter, however, Ferguson’s job will continue to center on those partisan differences: He was recently named to succeed Jen Crider as the deputy executive director of the DCCC. 




[ INSERT 14 ]JEN CRIDER

Crider is arguably Democrats’ best kept secret. Elusive and press shy, Crider has built a reputation over the years as a master political operator and consigliore to the party’s political leadership.

Crider is a throwback to an earlier time in politics — when operatives plied their trade in obscurity and shunned the spotlight. Just try googling her and you'll see.


As the deputy executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Crider helped to guide her party’s candidates through a tricky election cycle in 2012 — and even while Democrats did not retake control of the House, Crider reinforced her reputation has an elite communicator for her party. 

She got her start on Capitol Hill, where it was only natural that Crider, who went to the University of California Santa Barbara, would end up working for another Democrat with ties to the Golden State: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. 

Crider rose quickly, and in 2003 began working for Pelosi. 

In 2011, Crider moved over to also work at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — where, even by Republicans’ accounts, she has flourished. 

“Jen Crider is a Bears fan, so she clearly has her priorities straight, and I respect that,” Gerrit Lansing, digital director at the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, wrote in an email. “Like all good flacks, she’s aggressive and keeps us on our toes. The DCCC made a smart move making her deputy executive director.”




[ INSERT 12 ]DREW HAMMIL


As the press secretary and deputy communications director to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Drew Hammill, 34, has cemented a reputation as a reliable voice for Pelosi and House Democrats.

An Illinois native, Hammill received a master’s degree in comparative politics from the London School of Economics before heading to Capitol Hill in 2004. In addition to that rigorous schooling, Hammill’s colleagues say his political instincts have been just as vital. 

“In order to succeed in this profession you need to have instincts — and certainly Drew does,” said Nadeam Elshami, who has worked with Hammill for six years. “He understands how politics really works and how it intersects with press and message and policy, and nothing is put forward without thinking through the many steps and the ramifications.” 

“If I’m in a fight, that’s the one person I want in my bunker.”


[ INSERT 15 ]Kristie Greco

Kristie Greco left Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn’s office in the Spring of 2011 to be the chief communications officer for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

On the hill, Greco earned a reputation as a hard scrabbled defender of her boss and the Democratic Party. Republicans and Democrats alike respect Greco and regularly list her in the top communicators in Washington.

The former press secretary for Rep. Peter DeFazio was faced with the challenge of dealing with assaults from both the right and the left, with many Democrats upset by the convention’s placement in a Right-to-Work state that passed an anti-gay marriage amendment.

Republicans were steadfast in pointing out that the convention, which pledged to avoid taking corporate contributions, was millions in debt, even after relaxing that rule to allow corporate money outside the convention hall.

But in the end the convention, and Greco, emerged not only unscathed but with positive reviews from detractors and supporters alike.


[ INSERT 16 ]Andy Sere
Andy Seré distinguished himself at the NRCC as a bulldog, drawing liberal ire for comments attacking many a Democratic congressional candidate during the hugely successful 2010 cycle. Sere, Rep. David McKinley's former chief of staff, now cuts ads for GOP firm DMM Media, which works for clients including the US Chamber and an array of House candidates.



[ INSERT 17 ]Becca Glover Watkins
Becca Glover Watkins, the deputy communications director for firebrand House investigator Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee, has led the communications effort on her boss’ Fast and Furious investigation, which has dogged the Obama administration — and in particular Attorney General Eric Holder — for over a year.

Issa, who brought Watkins in in 2011, has found himself at the center of political attention ever since, and Watkins has been an effective both on offense for his various investigations as weel as an aggressive defender.

Watkins, who sister Juleanna Glover Weiss is a mainstay of official Washington, helped steady the Issa ship, and has played a key role in making him one of the best congressional twitter personalities.

Her relationships with reporters and the opinion class in Washington has also proven invaluable to the former spokesperson for The Daily Caller.


[ INSERT 18 ]Tommy Vietor
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor has spent nearly his entire career working for Barack Obama, joining his Senate office in January 2005 after a stint on the John Edwards campaign. The Massachusetts native rose to be Obama’s press secretary on Capitol Hill before leaving to join the campaign, where he played a key role in Obama's crucial Iowa victory. When he was promoted from White House Assistant Press Secretary to his spokesman for the national security staff in 2011, one member of the press joked, “The little boy is all grown up.”

In his current position he’s frequently the voice of the Obama administration on major international news of the day, including shooting down a New York Times report that the US and Iran had agreed to one-on-one talks barely two weeks before the election. Behind the scenes, Vietor is among the protectors of Obama’s brand — particularly on foreign policy — leading the charge against Republicans arguing Obama was “soft” on Israel, often armed with talking points and fact sheets on Iron Dome.


[ INSERT 19 ]Marie Harf
Marie Harf got her start in politics at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she worked in the Directorate of Intelligence, focusing on Middle East leadership. In June 2008 she became the agency’s spokesperson, fielding media requests for the agency during one of its highest profile moments in its history — the killing of Osama bin Laden. At the Obama campaign, Harf led the charge on eviscerating Mitt Romney for his many foreign policy stumbles: leaving Afghanistan out of his RNC Convention speech, the foreign policy trip, and his debate performances.
Harf was quickly embraced by Obama-world, her stock rising so high in Chicago that she was one of the handful of aides brought into the Williamsburg, Va. debate camp to help Obama turn things around in the second presidential debate.


[ INSERT 20 ]Tim Miller
Tim Miller spent the 2012 cycle as RNC Deputy Communications Director and as Jon Huntsman’s national press secretary, and is well known across DC for his snark-filled Twitter feed.
One of the few openly gay Republican operatives, the Glover Park Group veteran and former McCain ’08 Iowa spokesman developed some of the most biting attacks on Mitt Romney in the run-up to the New Hampshire primary, then went to work with his team once he became the GOP nominee. While some chafed at bringing a former enemy into the inner circle, Miller quickly became a central player in the unified GOP communications team, turning his guns on President Barack Obama and his aides — often by baiting fights on social media.


[ INSERT 21 ]Joe Pounder
Joe Pounder is single-handedly responsible for “half the content on Fox News,” joked an RNC colleague. The RNC research wizard is responsible for bringing terms like “Fast and Furious” and “Solyndra” into the vernacular, serving as a perpetual thorn in the Obama administration’s side. Maintaining the RNC’s vast oppo book on Obama, Pounder led the GOP’s effort to tarnish the shine off Obama’s image in an election year, pointing out flip-flops and misstatements in well-placed tips to reporters and research documents that have become some of the RNC’s most-read releases.
The bookish aide’s glassed-in RNC office is cluttered with papers and binders of campaigns past and present, ready to be deployed at his whim.
--

[ INSERT 22 ]Ben LaBolt
The Obama reelection spokesman cut his teeth on Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign and on Capitol Hill for Rep. Jan Schakowsky before joining then-Sen. Barack Obama’s office as press secretary in 2007. Within four months, LaBolt moved to the Obama campaign as deputy press secretary under Robert Gibbs. In the White House, he handled communications on justice, energy and the environment, including two Supreme Court confirmations. He left the White House in 2010 to be Rahm Emanuel’s communications director in his successful bid to be Mayor of Chicago. Both at the White House and on the Obama campaign, LaBolt proved to be a dogged defender of the president, with sparring matches with reporters becoming something of a legend both in Chicago and among the White House press corps.
--

[ INSERT 23 ] Jen Psaki
President Barack Obama’s traveling press secretary is among the most well liked aides in an otherwise prickly press shop. The quick-witted flack served as deputy communications director and deputy press secretary in the White House, initially responsible for dealing with the press on the economic crisis and the stimulus when Obama first took office. Psaki left the Obama administration for Global Strategy Group in 2011, only to join the campaign in June. She was a frequent face on Air Force One and at campaign stops across the country, briefing the press alongside Jay Carney. Among reporters and DC insiders she’s consistently mentioned as the likely pick to replace Carney in the podium job when he moves on.


[ INSERT 24 ]Brian Walsh
The 37 year old Walsh has seen the highs, lows and everything in between during his time on Capitol Hill since first coming to DC as a staff assistant in the Washington office of then Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
His work as a press secretary for former Rep. Bob Barr — and deftly handling his boss’ many fumbles, incendiary comments and mini-scandals, helped prepare him for his time in former Rep. Bob Ney’s office. Ney, as you may recall, was arguably the highest profile casualty of the Jack Abramoff scandal, and Walsh earned a reputation as a tenacious defender of the besieged Ohio lawmaker.

Walsh’s jump to the Senate as marked the start of better times for him, working for Sen. John Cornyn first in his personal office before moving over the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. During his tenure at the NRSC Walsh has played an integral part in Cornyn’s successes, turning his tenaciousness towards attacking Democratic candidates.

Source: Courtesy of Gerrit Lansing

Source: Courtesy of Paul Lindsay via Twitter

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LGBT advocates praised President Obama in May for his announcement that he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. With the Supreme Court hearing the appeal of California's Proposition 8, however, Obama faces another test on the issue.

President Barack Obama needs to decide whether he will weigh in on the Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex couples from marrying in the state.

Image by Larry Downing / Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court's decision to hear a set of cases about marriage puts President Obama's civil rights legacy — something that seemed to have been established in his decision to support marriage equality this year — back in the balance.

Obama finally made clear this May his personal view that same-sex couples should be able to marry. And his administration's stance, at issue in the one Supreme Court case, is that limiting the federal definition of "marriage" to those marriages between one man and one woman is unconstitutional.

But Obama has not said whether he believes the U.S. Constitution requires states to allow same-sex couples to marry, at issue in the second case.

As of Friday, neither the White House nor the Department of Justice were willing to comment on whether that will change in light of Friday's Supreme Court announcement. Failure to stake out a position in support of the same-sex couples challenging California's Proposition 8, at least in court, could draw significant criticism from LGBT rights advocates and supporters in the coming months.

In the past, Obama and his spokespeople have made clear that Obama opposed Proposition 8 when put to the voters and that he believes it is discriminatory. What Obama has not said — about California or any of the state constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying — is whether he believes it is unconstitutional for states to do so.

When Obama announced in May that he had reached the conclusion that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, he was careful to note that it was an expression of his own personal view. As recently as October, he reiterated on MTV, "[H]istorically, marriages have been defined at the state level." About same-sex couples' marriage rights, he said, "There's a conversation going on."

At the time, Obama added, "The courts are going to be examining these issues." He did not, though, offer up his view on what he believes the courts should conclude about the issue. Moreover, Obama has appeared content to allow his views about that step relating to same-sex couples' marriage rights to remain undefined as the "conversation" continues.

The Supreme Court's decision to hear the appeal of the Proposition 8 challenge speeds that conversation up and puts the issue front and center. And although the Obama administration is not required to weigh in on the appeal, former George W. Bush administration Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the lead lawyer fighting Proposition 8, said on Friday that he hopes the president will.

"I would hate to predict what the United States government is doing, but given the stand the president of the United States and the attorney general of the United States made with respect to marriage equality, we would certainly hope that they would participate," Olson said, noting that the administration has not yet taken a position in the case.

That view was echoed on Sunday by Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson, who told BuzzFeed, "President Obama and the Justice Department should absolutely urge the Supreme Court to restore the freedom to marry in California."

The challenge to Proposition 8, Hollingsworth v. Perry, is being considered by Supreme Court at the same time it is hearing a challenge to the federal marriage definition in the Defense of Marriage Act, which Obama is urging the court to declare unconstitutional. The reasoning of the federal government in the DOMA case is that laws like DOMA that target LGBT people should be subjected to additional scrutiny by the courts because of several factors, including the history of discrimination faced by LGBT people and the group's relative political powerlessness. Under that heightened scrutiny, the argument goes, DOMA should be found unconstitutional.

That logic, Olson said Friday, applies as well to the case that he and David Boies have brought for the American Foundation for Equal Rights against Proposition 8.

"I think that, given the position that the government has taken in the DOMA cases and the reasoning that they have used in filing their brief would apply with great effect in our case, the Perry case, as well," Olson said. "And I’m quite confident that if they did participate that they would support our position in this case that the denial of equal rights is subject to close scrutiny by the courts and cannot withstand that scrutiny. It's a denial of rights, and it's quite clear that it is."

Having served as the solicitor general — the administration's Supreme Court lawyer — in the George W. Bush administration, Olson understands the importance of having Obama's solicitor general, Donald B. Verrilli Jr., file a brief in support of his case. Although members of an independent branch, the justices pay close attention to the filings of the solicitor general — so much so that the person in Verrilli's position often has been referred to as the "10th justice."

As Richard Socarides, a lawyer and former Clinton White House official, said Sunday, "The opinion of the administration as expressed by the Department of Justice is almost always an important persuasive factor considered by the court. It is, after all, the opinion of the government."

Since the justices are considering both the DOMA challenge, where the solicitor general's office will be arguing on the government's behalf, and the Proposition 8 challenge during the same term, Socarides said it's untenable for the administration to avoid taking a position on Proposition 8.

"The solicitor general is going to get asked at argument anyway what the government thinks would happen if you apply heightened scrutiny to Proposition 8," he said. "So there is no way of avoiding it."

Additionally, even if not formally, a public statement by Obama on the issue — like other movement in coming months — would play into the political climate that can affect court rulings.

If either Obama or his administration is planning on weighing in, however, no one was ready to announce that news at this time.

"For specific comment on the Supreme Court’s activity today, I would point you to the solicitor general’s office at the Department of Justice," White House spokesman Shin Inouye said Friday.

A spokesperson at the Department of Justice told BuzzFeed on Friday that the solicitor general's office had no comment on the news.

A final decision on what Obama thinks and whether his administration will interject the government's view could still be a few months away, as a brief supporting the couples challenging Proposition 8 will not need to be filed with the court until mid-February.

The President, who once said of Gangnam Style “I think I can do that move,” declined to dance during the “Christmas in Washington” concert.

Image by Getty / Getty Images

Setting the groundwork for a blame game if the government goes over the fiscal cliff.

Image by J. Scott Applewhite / AP

WASHINGTON — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is expanding its campaign to tie Republican members of Congress to the fiscal cliff, with robocalls to 35 districts.

The new push will echo calls being made by Democrats in Washington, who have publicly pressured Republicans to sign a discharge petition to force a vote on an extension of tax cuts for income less than $250,000.

The calls will also plug the site GOPHostageTakers.com, where the DCCC says 400,000 people have already signed up in support of the Democrats' position.

A recent poll conducted by Pew showed that Democrats might be making headway in the fiscal-cliff messaging war: The preponderance of respondents indicated that they would blame Republicans if the fiscal cliff deadline passes without resolution.

At a nonprofit panel discussion, Clinton keeps to the topic of childhood hunger. Clintonland sought to “not just have it be about Chelsea,” a spokeswoman says.

Chelsea Clinton moderates a panel Monday morning in downtown New York City with leaders from the non-profit sector.

Image by Ruby Cramer/Buzzfeed

Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton made a careful foray into public life in New York City Monday, at a time of peak curiosity about the future of the Clinton dynasty. But her mother's ambitions for the presidency — and Chelsea's own involvement in politics — remained all but absent from discussion at the short, closely managed panel appearance.

Moderating a group of three leaders from the not-for-profit sector, Clinton, a special correspondent for NBC News, has yet to fully embrace the spotlight that she sometimes seeks and did not stray from the subject of childhood hunger — save to say that it was absent from the political conversation during this year's election.

"Our most vulnerable — our children — are not thought about in a coherent way, not only here in New York City, but in our national dialogue," said Clinton during her introductory remarks. "And that was something I felt this summer, in full candor, during our election season."

Clinton added, "In all of the conversations around what should happen with entitlement spending, what should happen with our national security, whether or not climate change was going to be on the agenda in any of the debates — very rarely did we hear a conversation about our nation's young people and our nation's children."

Clinton then directed questions to her three panelists — Josh Wachs of Share Our Strength, Erica Hamilton of City Year New York, and Rain Henderson of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative — whom she handpicked for the Association for a Better New York event.

After about 25 minutes of discussion, Clinton opened the floor to the audience, a group of about 200 nonprofit leaders and businesspeople from New York City.

When asked whether Clinton would be taking questions from reporters after the event, Clinton spokesperson said, "We talked to ABNY about it in advance. We just wanted to keep it to the panelists and not just have it be about Chelsea."

The headline of this post has been updated to remove the word, "Rare." Clinton has hosted two other events in the last week, as pointed out by a spokesperson.

Groups bemoan “secret” talks. “Big agribusiness is looking to slip in a farm bill behind closed doors,” one group says.

Image by Nati Harnik, File / AP

WASHINGTON — Although they may be natural enemies in the modern, legislative landscape of Washington, environmentalists and fiscal conservatives have found common cause in demanding that Congress include them in closed-door talks to pass a farm bill as part of the fiscal cliff package.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rep. Frank Lucas, respective chairs of the agriculture committees, have been refining the farm bill in private in hopes that a finished compromise could be more easily included with a fiscal cliff deal.

But the backroom negotiations have left environmentalists and fiscal conservatives on the outside — and they are none too pleased.

"This is absolutely irresponsible for Congress to even be considering," said Brandon Arnold of the National Taxpayers Union. "There's absolutely no reason why this process can't run through the regular order."

"It would be a fiscal cliff fiasco," added Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

And Dan Smith, of the U.S. PIRG, echoed, "Big agribusiness is looking to slip in a farm bill behind closed doors."

Stabenow and Lucas have been speaking daily to work out the differences between the Senate version of the farm bill, which would cut roughly $23 billion, including $4 billion from food stamps, and the House Agriculture Committee version, which would slice $35 billion, $16 from food stamps.

But some groups have cried foul because the talks have been held as a way to circumvent the House, where the bill has stalled amidst Republican disagreements over spending and Democratic opposition to steep food stamps cuts.

The campaign's “call tool” is now being used to urge residents of Republican districts to pressure their lawmakers.

The Email:

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But the administration insists “the lines of communication are open,” with Speaker of the House John Boehner.

White House press secretary Jay Carney arrives for his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 5, 2012.

Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

REDFORD, Mich. — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the "lines of communication are open" between President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner after meeting on the fiscal cliff yesterday, but wouldn't say they are closer to a deal.

With trillions in taxing and spending decisions due by the end of the year, Carney wouldn't say what the nation's top Democrat and Republican discussed, but said Republicans still haven't budged on raising taxes on the top two percent of wage-earners.

"We've yet to see a sentence of specificity from the Republicans on the issue of revenue," Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. "And while there has been encouraging statements from individual lawmakers about the realization that rates will go up on the top 2 percent, we haven’t seen anything specific from Republicans with regard to that.”

“I rejected the option of a 'placeholder.'”

Nikki Haley speaking with reporters in early November.

Image by Bruce Smith / AP

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said in a statement that she won't appoint a temporary replacement to fill the vacancy created by Senator Jim DeMint's departure for a post atop the Heritage Foundation.

Haley said:

“As I continue to consider the impending U.S. Senate vacancy, many have discussed the possibility of a ‘placeholder’ appointee who would pledge to serve for only two years and not seek election to the seat in 2014. While there are some good arguments in favor of that approach, I believe the better case is against it.

“I do not want to tie the next U.S. Senator from South Carolina’s hands regarding future office. I do not want to deprive our state’s citizens of the chance to render their judgment on the appointee’s performance by way of their vote. Most importantly, while I am an avid supporter of term limits, I do not want the effectiveness of our state’s new U.S. Senator to be undermined by the fact that he or she will automatically be leaving the office such a very short time after assuming it.

“I believe South Carolina will be best served by a U.S. Senator who will work hard day in and day out, and put him or herself before the voters at the soonest possible time. Accordingly, I reject the option of a ‘placeholder.’”

The names mentioned to replace DeMint have included Congressman Tim Scott and former South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster who told BuzzFeed last week when asked if he had been contacted about replacing DeMint "I have nothing to say about that."

A version of the Iran sanctions legislation from the administration would give the regime more time. Fewer business would face sanctions.

Image by Charles Dharapak / AP

The Obama administration is requesting a number of changes to congressional sanctions on Iran that would make the sanctions less strict, according to a redlined version of the legislation sent to the Armed Services Committees of the House and Senate.

The document, provided to BuzzFeed by a Democratic source who is privy to the negotiations, proposes a number of alterations to a package aimed at raising the pressure on Iran to abandon a nuclear program most American observers believe is aimed at building a weapon. The administration's changes would include waiting 180 days for the sanctions to take effect, as opposed to the 90 days as passed by the Senate.

The bill as passed by the Senate would bar transactions with businesses owned by Iran's government, which are on a Department of the Treasury list of "specially designated nationals," or SDN's. The administration wants to prevent this part from applying to any of these business entities that aren't already flagged for terrorism, human rights abuses or proliferation. The administration also wants to remove sanctions from metal providers.

The legislation as it stands would give President Obama a national security waiver on all the sanctions, and the administration is looking to boost this power with three more waiver opportunities.

The negotiations between Capitol Hill and the White House are part of a long-running back-and-forth, in which the Hill has consistently pushed for tougher sanctions. They also come as a post-election Obama Administration feels more political breathing room on the question of Iran's nuclear program.

The document is embedded below.

“What they are really doing is giving you the right to work for less money,” says Obama.

Image by Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press/MCT

REDFORD, MI — President Barack Obama launched an assault Monday on Michigan's proposed “right to work” legislation, which would weaken unions in the state, saying the law is motivated by politics, not the economy.

“What we shouldn’t do — and I just have to say this — is try to take away your rights to bargain for better wages,” Obama said, as the crowd of invited guests, including many union members, roared.

Last week the Republican-controlled Michigan House and Senate passed the legislation, which would prevent workers from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment — a move to curb the influence of unions in the state.

Each chamber of the legislatures must now pass the other’s version of the bill, but the legislation is expected to reach the desk of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder as soon as this week. Democrats are organizing in the state to pressure him to veto it.

“These so-called ‘right to work’ laws don’t have anything to do with economics,” Obama said. “They have to do with politics. What they are really doing is giving you the right to work for less money."

“We don’t want a race to the bottom — we want a race to the top,” he added.

Speaking on the fiscal cliff outside Detroit at a truck-engine manufacturing plant, Obama said the United States doesn’t want to compete in an economy of jobs with “low skill, low wage, no workers’ rights.”

According to a report in Politico the RNC has launched an official review committee to figure out what went wrong and what worked in 2012. But during the election, two of its members — former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer and Republican committeeman Henry Barbour — pushed the narrative that the polls were skewed, and Mitt Romney would ultimately prevail.

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If the Mayor of Newark opts out of the governor's race next year, it's because he wants to win in 2014. “It's an easier path.”

Image by Jim Young / Reuters

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, one of the Democratic Party's brightest stars and its favored challenger to Gov. Chris Christie next year, may defer that race for a chance to run for Senate the following year, a prominent supporter of the mayor said.

"It's a more real option than people realize," the Booker backer told BuzzFeed.

With Christie's approval rating at 72 percent — the highest ever measured for a New Jersey governor — in the wake of his handling of Hurricane Sandy, Booker could have an easier time facing a different candidate in the 2014 Senate race, fighting for the seat of current Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who is expected to retire in 2014 at the age of 90.

"The benefit of 2014 is that he's more likely to win," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, who noted that Republicans — shadowed by their national party's conservative stands on federal social issues — have not won a statewide Senate race since 1972.

Booker said Monday morning on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien" that his political future remained undecided, noting that he hadn't yet ruled either option.

"I'm putting a lot of people I trust around me," Booker said on the show, "trying to make the decision based simply on this — where I think I can make the most difference in the city I love and the state I love and the nation I pledged my life to."

And another New Jersey Democratic source said Booker will likely announce his decision at the end of this week or early next week.

"He has multiple options before him," said the official. "I get the sense that he's genuinely struggling with it. He would very much like to do it, but there's also the Senate, which seemingly is a path of less resistance. But I think that he wants to run for governor."

Without Booker in the race, the popular Christie would likely face a lower-profile candidate like Assemblyman Louis Greenwald, Congressman Frank Pallone, State Senator Barbara Buono, or former New Jersey governor Dick Codey.

"The conventional wisdom is there are two levels of candidates — there's Mayor Booker, who has the fundraising ability to go toe-to-toe with Governor Christie, and then there are any number of other qualified candidates who don't have the same star power," said the Democratic official.

And with such a strong Christie foothold coming out of Sandy, said Dworkin, "the biggest incentive for Booker to wait to 2014 is that it's an easier path to win."

“Fox is great, but those viewers already agree with us,” says Appell. Post-election talk of “outreach to the MSM community.”

WASHINGTON — Earlier this month, with the fiscal-cliff fight intensifying and public pressure mounting on Republicans to cave, House Speaker John Boehner prepared to take his case to the American people.

Hoping to change the dynamic of the debate, he armed himself with fresh talking points, a heap of data, and a few well-crafted lines designed to prove to frustrated Americans that House Republicans had their best interests at heart.

Then he called Fox News.

To some Republican strategists and communications operatives, Boehner's insular media strategy in recent weeks — a smattering of press conferences on Capitol Hill, and a sit-down with Chris Wallace at Fox News Sunday — is emblematic of what one called the GOP's "choir-preaching problem."

"He should have blitzed all five Sunday shows, and then done the Today show the next morning. Are you telling me he can't handle Matt Lauer?" asked veteran conservative media strategist Keith Appell, adding, "He could have maximized his narrative and really driven home the points that resonate with the broader public."

"This is always a problem for our party," complained another Republican strategist, citing several candidates he's worked with over the years. "You get hundreds of [media] invitations, and you go with the one you're most comfortable with. ... We need to be more aggressive."

As the Grand Old Party looks to convert a new generation of conservatives, some Republican strategists are urging their leaders to start carrying their message to media outlets that aren't named after a certain bushy-tailed woodland carnivore.

"Fox is great," Appell said. "But those viewers already agree with us. ... I think you have to take the attitude with the media that no one is going to just give you anything; you have to go out there and get it. Whether that's sitting down with Univision, or BET, or visiting college campuses and doing an interview at each one with student-run media. How else are different demographics going to get to know you if you never reach out to them?"

"The Democrats have been much better at this than we have," he added.

Aversion to the mainstream press has been an unofficial plank of the Republican Party's platform for decades, with politicians dating back to Richard Nixon using claims of widespread media bias to whip up supporters, squeeze money from donors, and justify electoral setbacks. And while the narrative was sometimes rooted in legitimate complaints, it was mainly wielded as a political weapon.

This distrust has since been fused into the DNA of conservatism, with one Gallup poll in September finding that just 26% of Republicans trust the mass media "a great deal" or "a fair amount."

And Republicans have found over the last two decades that they have an increasingly viable alternative for getting their message out. Beginning with Rush Limbaugh's talk-radio revolution in the '90s — and followed by the growth of a vibrant conservative blogosphere, and the rise of the Fox News behemoth — conservatives built their own media ecosystem, which includes the top-rated cable network in the country. And given the choice between a sit-down interview with a skeptical newspaper reporter or five minutes of softballs with Sean Hannity, Republican leaders have generally opted for the latter.

But the comfort comes with a catch. As operatives are increasingly realizing, many of these outlets have limited reach beyond the fervent Republican base, and the talking points politicians declaim often resonate only in the conservative echo chamber.

One Republican official recalled working earlier this year to get a potentially damaging story about a Democratic candidate into The New York Times — only to have an impatient colleague leak the scoop to a conservative website. The story shot through the online right, but failed to gain mainstream traction.

"I was like, great, we made the people who were already voting for us even angrier," the official snarked to BuzzFeed. "Mission accomplished."

Marco Rubio is frequently cited by strategists as a conservative star who seems to inherently understand the need to court new media outlets. During the four-day Republican National Convention, for example, the Florida senator sat for two interviews with Univision, and one with Black Entertainment Television's news anchor Ed Gordon. He's also done two separate interviews with The Daily Show on Comedy Central, and he was the first major political figure to make the trek to BuzzFeed's New York headquarters earlier this year.

"Americans get their news from a wide range of sources these days, so you can't limit your engagement to a limited number of media," said Rubio press secretary Alex Conant. "Sen. Rubio is a conservative who happens to speak fluent Spanish, which opens up a lot of Hispanic media opportunities."

But elsewhere in the party, the progress is slow going. David Scott, vice president of news for BET, said his network made "many efforts to cover both sides of the political aisle," this year and that "more often than not, our overtures to the GOP were rebuffed."

"Governor Romney declined several invitations to appear and speak directly to our audience throughout the campaign," Scott said. "Sadly, that is one reflection of the great distance the Republican Party needs to travel to modernize. The outcome of the election gives the GOP the crisis it needs to act, and one would hope it will take that opportunity to reach out to more media outlets like ours."

Some Republicans, like Senator John McCain, are still mainstream media regulars. A few even engage with the new online liberal media. When failed Republican presidential nominee Jon Huntsman gave an interview to The Huffington Post — a site that started as a liberal blog hub, but which has grown to be a major online news organization — the move was widely mocked by conservatives on Twitter, who saw it as yet another betrayal by an insufferable RINO.

Huffington Post political editor Sam Stein pushed back against that meme.

"The Huffington Post does have a very broad audience that can't really be pigeonholed ideologically, or, for that matter, geographically. A large chunk of our readers, for example, come from outside the DC–NY corridor," Stein told BuzzFeed. "More generally, I think politicians do gain from engaging beyond their political comfort zones."

Republican operatives endorse a range of solutions to the party's choir-preaching problem. Some argue live television hits are the answer because conservatives can drive home their message without it being filtered by biased reporters. Others are holding out hope that social media will spare them the hassle of confronting aggressive reporters by landing their friendly interviews on Facebook pages across the ideological spectrum.

But the answer may just be good old-fashioned outreach — and there are signs in some corners that the conservative grassroots could get on board.

In a radio interview last week, conservative activist Rebecca Diserio worried that Republicans treating the press as the enemy had become a "self-fulfilling prophecy."

"And you know, people have talked about outreach," she went on. "We need to outreach to the Hispanic community, we need to outreach to the black community. Well, how about this? We need to outreach to the MSM community."